Magnetically lifted charging bucket



March 6, 1956 G. HOOKHAM 2,737,409

MAGNETICALLY LIFTED CHARGING BUCKET Filed Oct. 2, 1952 y NMMM 42 @104 w.WM.

United States Patent M MAGNETICALLY LIFTED CHARGING BUCKET GeorgeHookham, London, England, .assignor to John Miles and Partners (London)Limited, London, England, a British company Application October 2, 1952,Serial No. 312,515

6 Claims. or. 294-655) The present invention relates to an improvedmethod and means for handling materials.

Present day operation of iron-melting cupola furnaces involves charginginto the cupola metal (usually in the form of scrap), coke andslag-forming materials. These materials are charged into the cupola bymeans of a suitable skip or bucket mechanically elevated to the chargingopening where provision is made for discharging their contents. It iscommon practice to charge the metal from wagons, or from scrap stockbins, into the skip or bucket by means of a magnet, usually suspendedfrom an overhead electrically operated travelling crane. The coke andslag-forming materials do not usually amount to more than two wagons perday, and it is common practice to deal with these by hand, transferringthem first from the wagon into a stock pile and then into the skip orbucket, or from the wagon directly into the skip or bucket.

In modern plants there is a tendency to store these materials in anoverhead stock bin from where they can be discharged directly orsemi-directly, and in controlled quantities, to the charging skip orbucket.

There is no difiiculty about providing mechanical means for transferringthe coke and slag-forming materials to the stock bin, whether at a lowor elevated level, but the quantities to be dealt with do not justifyexpensive mechanical equipment for the purpose.

On the other hand, although the crane for charging the metal is notfully occupied, nevertheless it has insuflicient spare time to deal withthese materials because, they being non-magnetic, it entails removingthe magnet from the crane-hook and hooking onto it the container intowhich these materials have been put by hand. Furthermore such acontainer usually requires elaborate releasing mechanism for dischargingthe contents into the stock bunker. Alternatively the services of a manare required at this point.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a singlemechanism which can handle both the magnetisable and non-magnetisablematerial.

According to the invention, a bucket for non-magnetisable materialcomprises separable inner and outer members, the outer one being in theform of a cylinder or an inverted frustum of a cone and the inner onebeing in the form of a conical bell hung upon a rod, the upper end ofwhich is provided with a magnetisable member magnetically insulated fromthe remainder of the bucket.

In other words, the bucket comprises separable centre and outer pieces,the centre piece being in the form of a cone with its peak uppermost andto which is attached a vertical rod having at its top end member such asa disc of magnetisable material. The other piece of the bucket is in theform of an annulus which rests on the peripheral edge of the cone, thesides of the annulus being either outwardly flared or vertical with anoutstanding flange.

The bunkers into which these materials have to be discharged areprovided with suitable openings through v Patented Max-. 6, 1.956

which the cone of :the containerzcan freely pass, but either smallenough or so shaped as to prevent the passage through of the outermember of the container.

The method of handling this bucket is as follows:

The materials are shovelled by hand directly from the wagon into thebucket which has been placed suitably alongside or inside the wagon, andwhen full the magnet is. brought into position over the magnetisabledisc, the magnet energised and the whole bucket lifted and moved overone of the openings in the stock. bunker. It is then lowered until theouter member of the bucket rests on the structure surrounding the bunkeropening and lowering is continued until the cone is low enough to allowthe contents of the bucket to fall into the stock bunker. The magnet isthen raised sufliciently to lift the cone up to the outer member andthen further to lift the two parts together, move them away and lowerthem to the wagon for further filling.

Because the wagon into which the bucket is lowered may be made of steeland because it is desirable to make the stock bunker of steel, somemeans must be provided to insulate the magnetisable head of the bucket,i. e. the disc, from the rest of the container. If this is not done thenwhen the magnet is energised it would tend to pick up not only thebucket but the steel structure on which it rests. This can be done bymaking part of the rod between the magnetisable disc and the cone ofnonmagnetisable material or by making the whole of the bucket (apartfrom the disc) of non-magnetisable material.

A preferred form of bucket is shown in sectional elevation in theaccompanyingdrawing and comprises a cone 1 as the inner member "and thefrustrum 2 of a cone inverted, as the outer member, but the shape neednot be limited to this provided the outer member is made separate fromthe inner member and is a suitable shape (for example, has projectingflanges) for holding it on to the stock bunker while the inner member islowered. Attached to the peak of the cone is a rod 3 having, at itshead, a magnetisable disc 4 magnetically insulated from the remainder ofthe bucket.

It is not essential that the magnetisable member should be in the shapeof a disc.

The magnet, which hitherto has been thought suitable for handling scrapmetal only, is in this way brought into use for handlingnon-magnetisable material such as coke and slag-forming material in away which requires the use of a minimum of labour and equipment.

What I claim is:

l. A bucket comprising a base member of inverted conical form and a sidemember of inverted frusto-conical form loosely seated on the peripheryof said base member, both said base member and said side member beingformed of non-magnetic material, a rod formed in part of non-magneticmaterial extending upwardly from the apex of said base member, and adisc member of magnetic material fast with the upper end of said rod.

2. A bucket for lifting non-magnetic material with the aid of magneticlifting means such as a magnetic crane, comprising a magnetisable memberfor cooperation with the magnetic lifting means, an inner bucket memberfixed to the magnetisable member, magnetic insulating means between, andserving to insulate, the magnetisable and inner bucket members, and anouter annular member resting upon but separable from the inner member.

3. A bucket for lifting non-magnetic material with the aid of magneticlifting means such as a magnetic crane, comprising an outwardly andupwardly flaring annulus, a floor upon which the annulus rests, a rodfixed to the floor, a magnetisable member fixed to the rod, and aninsert in the rod of magnetically insulating material serving toinsulate the floor and annulus from the magnetis- I able member.

4. A bucket for lifting .non-magnetic material with the aid of magneticlifting means such as a magnetic crane, comprising an outwardly andupwardly flaring annulus, a conical bell upon which the annulus rests, arod fixed to the apex of the bell, a magnetisable member fixed to therod, and an insert in the rod of magnetically insulating materialserving to insulate the bell and annulus from the magnetisablemember.

5. A bucket for lifting non-magnetic material with the aid of magneticlifting means such as a magnetic crane, comprising a magnetisable memberfor cooperation with the'magnetic lifting means, an inner bucket memberof non-magnetic material fixed to the magnetisable member, and and outerannular member resting upon but separable from the inner member.

6. A bucket for lifting non-magnetic material with the aid of magneticlifting means such as a magnetic crane, comprising a magnetisable memberfor cooperation with the magnetic lifting means, an inner bucket memberfixed to the magnetisable member, and an outer annular member restingupon but separable from the inner member, the inner and outer membersbeing made of magnetically insulating material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,285,440 Kaiser June 9, 1942 2,622,750 Ehlers Dec. 23, 1952 FOREIGNPATENTS 626,666 France Sept. 16. 1927

